Dawn Amos’s widower Mick and her daughter Karina Mann show the letter the DWP sent to her.
Photograph: cascadenews.co.uk

A woman who suffered from a debilitating lung condition was sent a letter informing her she no longer qualified for sickness benefits on the day she died.

Dawn Amos, 67, from Essex, died in November after suffering chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which left her struggling to breathe.

The letter the DWP sent to Dawn Amos. Photograph: cascadenews.co.uk

Her illness left her unable to walk far or do daily tasks independently. She had received attendance allowance from the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) to help with the cost of her personal care.

The DWP reviewed her claim based on her treatment, medication, test results and symptoms, and wrote to inform her that she was not ill enough to receive the weekly benefit, which amounted to £55.10 or £82.30 – depending on how often care was needed in a 24-hour period.

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The DWP said the decision had been made using the information from her claim form and from her doctor about six months earlier. The letter said: “I consider this information to be the most suitable available and enough to decide how much help you need.”

The DWP wrote its letter on the day Amos’s husband agreed that doctors should turn off her life support machine at Broomfield hospital in Chelmsford.

Mick Amos, 64, a self-employed window cleaner, said of the letter: “It’s disgusting and heartbreaking. We had to turn her machine off.

“How ill do you have to be? Our garden is 40 or 50ft and she couldn’t walk down it without having to sit down at the bottom,” he said. “On the day she died I came downstairs and she couldn’t breathe properly so I phoned the ambulance, who said if she gets worse call us back.

“As soon as I got off the phone she collapsed and I was on the phone again,” he said. “She had stopped breathing and I was doing CPR while I was on the phone to the ambulance.”

Dawn Amos Photograph: cascadenews.co.uk

He discovered the DWP’s letter two days after his wife’s death. Sent on the day she died, it notified her that her allowance was being withdrawn based on “treatment, medication, symptoms and test results”.

Speaking to the Guardian, Amos said there was difficulty in getting hold of the surgery, St Lawrence medical practice, and did not know the name of his wife’s former general practitioner and that it may have kept changing. He said his family was making a formal complaint: “Because there’s lots of things they could have done, but didn’t.”

The Guardian has contacted the surgery but was not available for comment.

Dawn’s daughter, Karina Mann, said her mother had received attendance allowance for six months before the DWP asked to reassess her. “Obviously she was ill enough for the benefit because we had to watch her die,” she said.

“Mum couldn’t get up the stairs, had problems breathing and it took three hours for her to get ready. I used to see her every day because she needed help. She could not leave the house.”

Caroline Abrahams, charity director for Age UK said about the significance of the benefit: “Attendance allowance is a hugely important benefit which helps older people to meet the extra costs associated with living with disability. It can improve older people’s quality of life and provide that extra bit of support which may help prevent, or delay the need for more formal care.”

A spokesperson for the DWP said: “Our thoughts are with the family of Mrs Amos. The decision was based on evidence which included the opinion of Mrs Amos’ own GP.”